"I sent three pairs of Big Ballers to 1600 Pennsylvania,"
Ball said. "One in red, one in
white, and one in blue to show we’re patriotic."

Ball said again on CNN Tuesday morning that he had sent the
sneakers to the White House, though he told host Chris Cuomo that
he hadn't requested a return receipt.

In mid-November, after Trump asked if the three UCLA basketball
players — including Ball's son LiAngelo — who were detained in
China "will say thank you President Trump," for helping secure
their release, Cuban predicted that the father
would end up sending Trump some sneakers.

"I can’t wait to see President Trump walking around the Oval
Office in a Trump branded suit and the Big Baller Brand sneakers
I’m sure LaVar will send him for Christmas!" Cuban, the owner of
the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and star of ABC's "Shark Tank," told
Business Insider in an email.

The back-and-forth between Trump and Ball

The feud between Trump and
Ball, whom Axios once
wrote used "the Trump playbook to conquer sports media,"
escalated quickly last month. After the UCLA players thanked
Trump, Ball declined to applaud the president for helping secure
his son's return back home.

Speaking to
ESPN, Ball minimized Trump's role in securing the LiAngelo's
release.

"As long as my boy's back here, I'm fine," he added. "I'm happy
with how things were handled."

Trump seized on that
comment, suggesting that he "should have left" the players
"in jail" because Ball was ungrateful for his help.

"Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved
from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is
unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no
big deal," he tweeted. "I
should have left them in jail!"

"I don't have to go around saying 'thank you' to everybody," Ball
said. "He didn't call me. I didn't shake his hand. He didn't have
to say nothin', but I'm just sayin'. I have to know what somebody
is doing before I say 'thank you.' I'm not just going to go
around saying 'thank you.'"

That only served to further
Trump's anger with him. The president tweeted that "IT WAS ME"
who secured LiAngelo Ball's release, calling the elder Ball "a
poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair."

"LaVar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during
Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to
support you," he continued. "But remember
LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It’s a really big deal,
especially in China. Ungrateful fool!"

The White House did not immediately respond to Business Insider
when asked if Trump received the sneakers.